Provision of analysis to quantify non-CO2 abatement in the UK agriculture sector by 2050, with an emphasis on the potential for innovative or novel measures

The UK statutory target requires GHG emissions to fall by at least 80% by 2050 on 1990 levels, consistent with a global emissions path aimed at keeping global average temperature to around 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

The Paris Agreement reached in December 2015 reinforced the target to limit warming to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. To achieve this aim, the Agreement additionally sets a target for net zero global emissions in the second half of this century.

In October of this year, the CCC received a formal request from the UK and devolved Governments to provide advice on long-term targets for GHG emissions and the UK's transition to a net zero-carbon economy. The Government is seeking advice on the date by which the UK should achieve a net-zero greenhouse gas or carbon target, and advice on how reductions in line with recommendations might be delivered in key sectors of the economy and at what cost.

The CCC is now in the process of gathering evidence to produce this advice. As part of this we will assess the scope to increase the contribution from the agriculture and land use sectors beyond the 17 MtCO2e of annual savings by 2050 we estimated previously in our recommendation for the fifth carbon budget.

This project focuses on identifying additional non-CO2 abatement from a range of innovative and novel on-farm measures based on the latest available evidence, together with an assessment of a realistic time-line for their deployment to 2050 and beyond.

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